The Worst Dates
by Nix1978
Summary: Oneshot written with the prompts of Morgan & Prentiss not established, a swimming pool in the middle of the night and another man... That's all I'll say so no to give the story away


**This is a bit of fun oneshot written for Sara Nublas who gave me the prompts of P&M not established, a swimming pool in the middle of the night and another man... She always challenges me! Hope you enjoy**

"Am I glad that case is over?" Emily sighed dumping her go bag on her desk in the bull pen.

"Yeah, finally a couple of days off. Remind me again when we last had one of those." Morgan chuckled.

"I don't know, but I'm sure Darren can barely remember what I look like."

"Oh yes. Darren, the mystery boyfriend."

"He's not a mystery." Emily replied defensively.

"Well how come I've not met him yet? You've been seeing him for what, three months now?"

"You're a fine one to talk, I still haven't met _Jessica_." Her tone slightly sarcastic at the mention of the girl's name.

"Yeah but I've been dating her for like five or six weeks. That amounts to about four dates."

"Well Morgan, I'll show you mine when you show me yours." She said with a wink.

Morgan laughed, "Ok Prentiss, tomorrow night then. My place, I'll cook. Double date."

"Double date?" She said scrunching her nose.

"Yes, you bring the boyfriend, I'll do the rest. See you at eight O'clock."

And before she could protest, Morgan had snapped up his car keys and was half way across the room towards the glass doors.

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Emily stood with 6'3" Darren at Morgan's front door. He was the same age as Emily, with an athletic build, chiseled features and light brown hair. There was no doubting that as a couple they would make heads turn.

"Hey." Derek smiled as he opened the door. "Come on in."

He moved to one side, allowing the pair room to enter and couldn't stop himself from sizing up the stranger walking into his hallway.

"Nice to meet you Derek." Darren said, turning and holding out his had to the Agent.

Derek shook the other man's hand especially firmly.

"You too. I'd like to say I've heard all about you, but this one plays her cards close to her chest." Derek said nodding and smiling towards Emily.

Darren followed Derek's gaze to Emily, who was trying to look unimpressed, but her coy smile failed her.

"Ok. Come this way. It's a nice night so I thought we'd eat outside."

The couple followed Derek through his striking lounge and on to the patio, where a bench was already laid for dinner.

Emily surveyed the candles and the expensive looking cutlery, both surprised and impressed with Derek's taste.

Derek pulled out a chair and signaled for the brunette to take a seat. She did as invited and Darren took the seat next to her.

After disappearing for a few minutes, Derek returned with beer, wine and an attractive, petite, long blonde haired Jessica tottering behind him.

She took her seat opposite Darren whilst Derek made the introductions and sat facing his partner. As Jessica shook Emily's hand across the table, she thought to herself that this was not the woman she expected from the little that Derek had spoken about her. She wasn't sure what she expected of a female FBI Agent, but it wasn't the slender, feminine, pretty woman sat in front of her.

"Beer?" Derek said offering a bottle to Darren.

"Sure." He said, taking the ice cold drink.

"What you done?" Derek asked nodding towards the bandage on Darren's forearm.

"Oh, it's nothing. Ice hockey game."

"You play in a league?"

"Yeah, just a local one. You play?"

"Nah, I used to a little in college. More of a football guy myself."

Both men turned as Emily chuckled quietly.

"What?" Derek asked.

"More of a football guy….." She started a little sarcastically, shaking her head. "….. Derek was a star quarterback." She said raising her eyebrows towards Darren.

"Yeah yeah. Whatever Emily, I'm sure no-one is interested in that." Derek scolded.

"You never told me you were a quarter back Derek." Jessica piped up.

Derek shrugged his shoulders, "Never came up I guess."

"I played a bit of football too in college." Darren said, grabbing back the agents' attention.

"Oh right yeah, you did…." Emily agreed turning to her date. "….. You played….. err….."

"Wide receiver Emily. Wide receiver."

"Oh yeah. You know I don't know anything about football."

_N__o, but you knew what position he played, _Darren couldn't help but observe.

"Quick on ya feet then Darren?" Derek asked as he picked up the bottle of wine off the table. As he started twisting the cork, Darren nodded in answer to Derek's question, but was distracted as he looked at the label on the bottle. He recognized it as the same one that Emily had said was her favorite just a few weeks ago whilst they were on a rare date.

Without even asking if she wanted any, Derek poured the wine for Emily and then some for himself.

In an attempt to ignore what he believed he was imagining in front of him, Darren turned to the blonde opposite him, "You not drinking?" He asked, taking a swig of his own beer.

"No…. I have this….." She said lifting the slim line tonic water. "….. Do you know how many calories are in a glass of wine?"

Darren shook his head as Emily looked at Derek trying to prevent the smirk creeping across her face.

"Well…." Jessica continued, "…. Too many. And it dries out my skin. I can't afford that with my job."

"What do you do?" Emily asked.

"I'm a beautician."

"That's nice…." She smiled, "'….. So where did you guys meet?"

"The gym. Derek didn't tell you?" The sound of disappointment in her voice not escaping anyone.

"Errr, I don't think so. We've been pretty busy at work."

Emily looked at Derek awkwardly, who took the hint to divert the conversation.

"You've known Emily a long time then Darren?"

"Yeah, from college. I moved here due to becoming a partner in the law firm I work for and I knew Emily was here so I looked her up."

"So….." Derek started, looking at Emily with a big grin, "… tell me about Emily Prentiss in college. Swat or party girl?"

Derek jumped in his seat as Emily's foot connected with his shin. "Ow!"

"Don't answer that Darren." She instructed.

Derek nodded. "Party girl. No doubt about it."

"You wish Derek." Emily laughed.

Although Derek was speaking to Darren, he hadn't averted his eyes from Emily's. Darren and Jessica watched on as the partners seemed lost in a joke that had escaped the both of them.

"Right….." Derek breathed, standing up, "….. I'll go get the starters. Wanna give me a hand?" He said nodding towards Emily.

"Sure."

She got up and walked off with Derek and as she did, she ever so slightly bumped her hip against his as they continued to tease one another.

As they disappeared out of view, Darren moved his gaze from the last point he saw them back to Jessica and arched his eyebrows.

The blonde moved in a little closer, lowering her voice, "How long have they worked together?"

"I assume the whole time Em's been at Quanitco, which is about five years I think."

"They seem a bit…." Jessica stopped mid sentence

"A bit familiar?" Darren continued.

"Yeah. I mean I guess they would be with all the time they spend together. Right?" She said trying to settle her own mind.

"Ummm." Darren uttered, contemplating the long days and the copious amount of nights the two agents spent away in hotels. Seeing them together put a whole different slant on it.

"Jessica seems….. sweet." Emily said, smirking as she leant up against the kitchen counter, watching Derek taking the hot flatbread out of the oven.

He looked up at her and chuckled, shaking his head.

"So what about Darren?" He said, deflecting the conversation off himself.

"What about him?"

"You've struck lucky there. Partner in a law firm."

She sighed, "Yeah, he's nice."

He grabbed some small plates out of the cupboard, placed them on the counter and looked back to her, "Nice?"

"Yeah?" She answered questiongly.

"Just nice?"

"What you getting at?"

"I think Emily Prentiss needs more than just nice."

"You reckon?" She said smiling at him.

"I do."

"Anyway… back to Jessica….."

"Uh uh…" he said handing her two plates and shaking his head, "…. Back to dinner. Come on."

"So Darren…." Derek started, finishing off his last mouthful of the starter, "…. What made you go into law? In the family?"

"No, my father was in the military."

"Really? Who did he serve with?"

"He was a Lieutenant General in the Marine Corps."

"Wow…." Derek said surprised, "…. That's pretty impressive. You didn't fancy following in his footsteps?"

Darren shook his head, "No way, the travelling around the whole of my childhood was enough. Didn't fancy doing it for the next twenty or thirty years of my life."

"Fair enough." The agent said nodding in understanding.

"Besides, I'm not a fan of guns." Darren added.

Emily turned to look at Darren as he said that and then back to Derek who was frowning in confusion.

Smiling, she turned to Darren, "I think not liking guns is a foreign concept to Derek. Particularly MP5's. He likes firing them off in cars."

"Are you seriously never gonna let that go Emily?" Derek sighed.

"What's an MP5?" Jessica asked, moving in a little closer to Derek. But before he could answer, the other man looked at the blonde to answer,

"An MP5 is a sub machine gun….." and as quickly as he answered Jessica he turned back to Emily, "…but what do you mean firing them off in cars?"

"Well, clever clogs here decided to shoot one through the windshield of our car and it burst my eardrum." Emily said smiling sarcastically at Derek.

"How many times do we have to go over this, there was no time to warn you. The guy was shooting at us."

"I…" Emily started, but Darren interrupted, "Wait, let me get this right, you had a sub machine gun in a car and you shot it through the windshield?"

Derek nodded.

"Why didn't you shoot outside of the window?"

"We were going too fast." Derek said as if it were obvious.

"You were driving?"

"No, I was." Emily added.

Darren closed his eyes and took a breath, "This is the kind of stuff you two do at work?"

"Well yeah." Emily said shrugging her shoulders.

Darren looked between the two Agents who both looked as if racing round with sub machine guns was as normal as going to the shop to buy the newspaper.

"Isn't it kinda dangerous?" Jessica asked.

"It's ok, he's got me to look after him." Emily said matter of factly.

"Are you kidding? I've saved your ass way more times that you've saved mine." Derek protested.

"Really? One day we can try and figure that out." The brunette laughed.

And so the evening continued. The topic of conversation would start off including all four of them, but would ultimately end with some teasing between the agents or an 'in' joke.

Darren could almost have forgiven that, but watching the way Emily looked at her partner as he told a story pushed his buttons. He knew she sure didn't look at him that way.

Jessica felt as though she barely existed. Derek had scarcely laid a finger on her all night. May be he wasn't the affectionate type in front of friends…. That she could have believed until she saw him place his hand in the small of Emily's back as they walked off to the kitchen together or brush his fingers with hers as he passed her the bread over the table.

The last straw finally came….

"My god Derek, that's like my fourth glass… and they're not exactly small." Emily exclaimed as he poured the wine.

"Oh I forgot you're a light weight." He said winking at her.

"I am not."

"One word for you princess…. Vegas."

The mention of the word 'princess' caused both of the agents' dates to suddenly pay much more attention. They both looked wide eyed at the oblivious pair who were still in deep conversation about Las Vegas and then looked at each other.

"Aren't you supposed to like work when you go on these trips?" Jessica asked, slightly sarcastically.

"We were, but the case had finished." Emily answered.

"Yeah and we work hard, so sometimes we need to party hard to blow off some steam." Derek continued.

"Doesn't sound very professional to me." Darren muttered under his breath, not quiet enough though for everyone not to hear.

Emily's head suddenly snapped round to face him, "Professional? What are you trying to say?"

He laughed inside, realizing that was the most attention she'd paid him all night. He shook his head and slowly stood up, "Nothing Emily. I'm just going to the bathroom. Excuse me for a minute."

As he stood he looked at Jessica and nodded his head signaling for her to follow him.

"I'm just going to get a top up of my drink. You two want anything?" Jessica asked, taking Darren's lead.

She received shakes of the heads from both and made her way into the kitchen where Darren waited.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Derek asked Emily once the others were out of earshot.

"Don't know…." Emily said shrugging her shoulders, "… May be it doesn't sound so good us 'partying hard' as you put it on FBI time."

"I guess….." Derek raised his eyebrows and grinned, "….. but it sure was fun right?"

Emily laughed in agreement as she took another sip of the wine.

As Derek poured the next glass some fifteen minutes later, Emily suddenly sat up in her seat and looked behind her.

"What's up?" Derek asked.

"Where the hell are those two? They've been gone ages."

She looked back to Derek who had a look of bewilderment on his face, "I'll go check." He said standing up.

Emily sat, elbow on table and chin rested on her hand, tapping her fingers until the sound of Derek's voice caused her to turn,

"They're gone."

"What do you mean they're gone?" She said standing up to face him.

"Darren's car's gone."

"What about Jessica's?"

"She didn't have one. I picked her up."

"And she's definitely gone?"

"Yup. I've checked everywhere."

Emily just stared at Derek and he stared back as the realization came to both of them.

Derek watched as Emily bit her bottom lip and the sides of her mouth curled up slightly.

"It's not funny." Derek chuckled.

Emily shook her head, but her smile gave her away. The smile soon turned into a laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Derek said, unable to stop himself laughing along with her.

"We are seriously the worse dates ever. How long did it take for us to notice they were gone?"

Derek shook his head slowly, "I dunno…. So you going to call Mr. Nice?"

"Oi, stop calling him nice."

"Well he is nice and I'm sure talking about conveyancing over dinner really excites you."

"Shut up!" She yelled at the same time pushing his chest with both her hands.

The combination of her catching him off guard and the effects of the wine, unbalanced him, and she watched almost in slow motion as Derek stumbled backwards and fell into his pool.

For a couple of seconds she stood staring, hands over her mouth, but as his head emerged from the water and a look of both surprise and disgust crept across his face, she couldn't help but snigger.

"Come and help me out." He growled, holding out a hand to her.

She walked over and placed her hand in his, unable to stop laughing, "I'm sorry Derek, I didn't meant to….."

Her sentence halted as the momentum of her body took her over Derek's head, and she splashed into the water behind him.

"I can't believe you fell for that Emily." He chuckled as her head bobbed above the surface of the water.

"You're an idiot." She said splashing water in his face.

Wiping the water out of his eyes, he took a step closer, "So why do you reckon they left?"

"I guess we neglected them a bit didn't we?"

"Hmmm. More than a bit I think. Problem is our worlds don't exist much outside of the BAU do they?" His tone, lowering.

"No they don't." She agreed, looking down at the water.

"But do you know what Emily?" He said, his eyes drilling into hers as she met his gaze once again.

"What?" She replied, his stare distracting her.

He took one more step, almost closing the gap between them, "I don't actually think it's a problem."

"What do you mean?"

"I kinda like my world existing around you."

"Very funny Derek."

"I'm not kidding around Emily"

"Well it's the wine talking then."

He shook his head, "Why do you think they left?"

She paused, reality dawning upon her.

"Because we were too wrapped up in each other I suppose."

He stared into her eyes for a few seconds, "Are you drunk?" He asked softly.

"No." The look of confusion on her face causing him to smile.

Hi eyes continued to bore into hers as she felt his fingers brush her forearm and then trace along her skin, over her wrist and down onto the back of her hand. She didn't flinch though. She realized at that moment, that this didn't feel strange at all. Aside from the fact they were standing in water chest high fully clothed, the contact… the affection…. wasn't alien to her. They did it all the time, they just didn't acknowledge it. But now, at this moment, with the wine heightening their senses and the intensity of their stare, they had to acknowledge it.

"So…." He uttered, "What do you want to do? You wanna call him?"

She looked down again and he saw her chest rise and fall a little heavier than normal.

"You wanna call her?" She said looking back up to him.

He just stared and then let a smile creep across his face as he shook his head slowly.

For a split second he felt the absence of her skin on his as she pulled her hand away, but it was soon wrapped around his wrist and he took another small step forward as he felt the light tug.

With his face only a breath apart from hers he suddenly saw a glimmer of doubt in her eyes. "What?" he breathed.

She swallowed before answering him, "I just feel…. "

"Guilty?" He smiled.

Nodding, she squeezed his wrist a little tighter, her actions defying her words.

He lifted his free hand and brushed away the strand of wet hair that had fallen over her face and leant in and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"I can wait…" He whispered, "…"but not that long ok?" He said tapping the end of her nose with his finger and winking.

She smiled back at him, agreeing with her look.

"Come on, we need to get you out of those wet clothes." He said before turning around and leading her out of the pool.

"I thought we were waiting." She laughed.

"Don't tempt me princess."


End file.
